A Cavan Senator has called on the Minister for Health to amend the Boarding Out Scheme for older people.
The Boarding Out Scheme facilitates older people to remain in their communities where they may otherwise be accommodated in residential care.
Senator Pauline Tully's calls come as six elderly people in Arva are set to lose their home next month.
They live in the home of a woman who has provided them with care under the scheme for the past 14 years.
According to Senator Pauline Tully, the only thing the government needed to do to stop this happening was update the regulations to ensure this lady and other boarding out providers were getting the supports they needed.
Despite repeated promises to do so nothing has happened and the provider has had no choice but to close.
While this is not want the provider wants, Senator Tully said it is "completely impossible" for her to continue operating under these circumstances.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Senator Tully said Government should be supporting more services like these that are community based instead of causing the ones already in existence to shut down:
She told Northern Sound; "I have been raising this issue since 2020, I raised it in the Seanad on Tuesday and will do so again tomorrow to make one final plea to the Minister.The residents in this home do not need nor want to be in nursing homes, their rooms in this house are cosy and entirely their own, they have a dog in this house called Susie who takes them for walks, they can stroll up the town, go to bingo and be part of the community or hop on the bus into Cavan. They don't want to lose this way of life."
